


How The Fox became The Moth

by MiraculousPyro



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Arrested Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Bookworm Lila Rossi, Emilie Agreste Lives, Except for Lila and Félix, F/M, Felix is an asshole who can't remember names, Félix moved to Paris, Gabriel is in Jail, Hawkmoth Defeat, I think it's angst at least, Lila Rossi Redemption, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila hates her life, Marinette fights Lila, Nathalie is in Jail, Peacock Nathalie Sancoeur | Mayura, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Romance, everyone is happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24779572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraculousPyro/pseuds/MiraculousPyro
Summary: After losing all her friends and fame, Lila Rossi is forced to focus on her future instead of her popularity thanks to her now very controlling mother. The only thing Lila has managed to hide from her mother was the box given to her by Mayura all those months ago.Félix Graham de Vanily had been pulled from his life in London to live in Paris with his cousin Adrien. With no friends and an unhealthy obsession with a certain pair of rings, Félix decides to befriend the infamous Lila Rossi.Neither knew just how much that decision would change their lives.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Félix Graham de Vanily/Lila Rossi
Comments: 60
Kudos: 43





	1. How The Fox received The Seed.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I'm doing this. 
> 
> No, this isn't a salt fic.
> 
> I only have half a plan, which is more than I usually have when writing fics. 
> 
> And I'ma just have some fun writing this one.

Lila Rossi sat on her bed watching the new video that Alya had put up on the Ladyblog. 

"Due to some revelations about the true nature of Lila Rossi," the blogger said in an apologetic way, "all interviews and information given to the Ladyblog by Lila Rossi has been removed. After extensive research, I have found that nearly everything Lila told me, except for her name, was a lie."

Lila felt the rage boil inside her. 

This was all Marinette's fault. Lila had the entire school in the palm of her hands, and, on the last day of school, Marinette had snatched it from her. 

"From now on I will extensively research all claims given to the Ladyblog before I-" Lila opened the window and tossed the laptop out. 

Lila had the perfect life! She had been worshiped like a goddess by every brainless idiot in that school and she had even been modeling for Gabriel Agreste! But Marinette Dupain-Cheng stole all of it from her! 

She somehow convinced Adrien to go out with her and had replaced Lila as Adrien's model partner. 

The worst part? 

Lila still had to go to Françoise Dupont High School next school year. Mother refused to pull her from the school, saying some bullshit about dealing with consequences. 

Complete and utter bullshit! 

Lila looked out the window to see Ladybug swung by, Chat Noir close behind. 

Lila's anger skyrocketed at the sight of the superheroes. Forget Hawkmoth, those two are the real villains. Ladybug was the reason that Adrien never believed Lila. 

Stupid bitch went out of her way to embarrass Lila in front of Adrien last year. Everything was her fault. 

Lila would destroy Ladybug, even if it was the last thing she did. 

Suddenly, something felt very wrong to Lila, and she couldn't figure out what it was. 

Almost like something was missing. 

Lila looked around her room, everything was there, except the laptop Lila had just tossed out the window. 

Then Lila realised. 

Where was the akuma?

Normally when Lila got this angry one of the magical butterflies would come and turn Lila into a villain. Lila had been akumatised many times, she loved being akumatised, it gave her the chance to destroy Ladybug. 

That was when Lila's phone buzzed with an akuma alert. 

Hawkmoth must be busy then, a shame. 

Picking up her phone, Lila turned on the news broadcast about the newest akuma. 

"Hawkmoth has been defeated!" Nadja Chamack reported, "He has been unmasked by Ladybug and Chat Noir to be the fashion designer Gabriel Agreste! Mayura is still at large but she is believed to be Gabriel's secretary, Nathalie Sancoeur." A photo of the woman appeared on the screen, "If you see this woman, hide and call the police. She is an armed and dangerous person." 

Lila tossed her phone against the wall in order to silence the newswoman. 

Of cause Hawkmoth would be defeated today of all days. All of Lila's happiness, gone in the space of 24 hours. 

It felt like the universe was giving Lila a giant middle finger up her ass. 

Well, it felt like that emotionally, not physically. Lila corrected herself. 

Lila went over to grab her phone from off the floor, the screen was shattered and it was bent pretty badly, she would need a new one. 

Will mom even get me a new one? A part of Lila's mind whispered. 

Lila growled and turned to throw the broken phone out of the window. 

And saw a blue woman standing in her room. 

Mayura. 

"What do you want?" Lila snapped at the supervillian. 

"Lila Rossi, I am here to give you this." Mayura handed Lila a small, grey, square shapes box, "Gabriel told me to give this to you if he ever was unmasked." 

Lila took the box from the blue woman and attempted to open it, but couldn't for some strange reason. 

"Why the hell would Hawkmoth want me to have a sealed box?" Lila said, tossing the box over her shoulder. 

"I have no idea. He said that the box would open when it is the right time." Mayura sighed, "I don't know why I'm still helping him. All I wanted was for Emilie to wake up." 

Lila sneered at the supervillian, "I don't care about your stupid problems! Now what's in the box?" 

"I can't tell you." Mayura stepped out of the window, "Goodbye, Lila Rossi." 

Lila starred after the blue woman. 

"The fuck was that about?" Lila said aloud. 

___________________

Félix Graham de Vanily stood in the former office of Gabriel Agreste. It had been months since Hawkmoth and Mayura had been defeated. His cousin Adiren had been victimised by the press and Mother decided that, instead of moving Adrien to London, away from his friends, they would move to Paris, away from Felix's friends. 

Because Mother was entirely too worried about what the public thinks. 

Felix now lives in the Agreste Mansion, now owned by Adrien. Felix had taken Gabriel's old office as his room and had found the evil layer down below the first day. 

Along with Aunt Emlile. 

Adrien had called over Ladybug and soon Aunt Emilie was no longer in a coma. 

Therefore making all of what Hawkmoth did pointless. 

Uncle Gabriel was an idiot. 

School was starting again in a few days and Felix would be going to the same school as Adrien. Felix couldn't remember what the school was called, Frans Dumps or something like that. 

Honestly, Felix didn't care. 

Felix walked over to his desk and pulled out two silver rings from one of the drawers. 

The Graham de Vanily Twin Rings. He had been so obsessed about them 6 months ago, but now he realised that they were just rings. Aunt Emilie had given the rings to him after Gabriel was put in prison for life. 

Felix threw the rings back into the drawer and left his room. He walked into the dining room to see Marinette and Aunt Emilie setting out food on the dining table. 

After Aunt Emilie woke up, she fired most of the staff that worked at the mansion. Now the food was either cooked by Aunt Emilie or Marinette, Adrien's girlfriend. 

Felix kind of missed his personal chef from London, but in all honesty, Marinette made some delicious food. 

Marinette and Adrien were basically inseparable. It was probably fair to say that he had 2 homes at this point. One at the Agreste Mansion and one at the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

It was ridiculous. 

"Oh Felix!" Aunt Emilie exclaimed as he noticed him, "What perfect timing! Can you go call Adrien for dinner? He should be up in his room." 

"Yes, Aunt Emilie." Felix responded, turning around and going up the main stairway. 

Opening Adrien's door, Felix was greeted by the sound of Adrien playing piano. Adrien still often played piano, even if Uncle Gabriel wasn't forcing him to nowadays. 

Felix sat there for a moment, listening to the music. It was a fast-paced fun sounding piece that had a lot of notes going at the same time. It almost sounded as if Adrien was playing with somebody else. 

"Adrien," Felix called out to him, causing the music to stop, "It's time to eat." 

Felix heard Adrien close the piano and send it back to the floor. Felix didn't look into the room since half the time Adrien didn't wear pants and Felix didn't enjoy seeing his cousin in his underwear. 

Adrien walked into Felix's kind of sight fully clothed, thankfully, and his hair up in a small ponytail. Adrien had grown out his hair during the past months he had insisted on doing it after he had quit modeling. 

Felix thought it looked terrible but Adrien wouldn't listen. Also apparently Marinette liked the hair, so he could not be persuaded to cut it.

"Hey Felix." Adrien said, turning off the lights in his room, "Haven't seen you all day, how have you been?" 

"Fine." Felix responded as the two boys exited the room. 

"So, what have you been doing all day?" Adrien continued, obviously not picking up on the fact that Felix did not want to talk. 

Felix sighed, "Nothing in particular." Felix responded. 

The two boys arrived at the dining hall to find Marinette and Aunt Emilie already sitting at the table. 

Adrien moved to the opposite side of the table to sit with Marinette and Felix sat next to Aunt Emilie. The four sat in the middle of the long side of the table with nobody sitting at either of the shorter ends. 

The food sat in between all of them, which was then passed around so everyone could get some onto their plates. 

Dinner had become horrible casual ever since Marinette had started dating Adrien. Once Marinette had told Aunt Emilie how her family ate dinner, Aunt Emilie insisted on doing it that way since it promoted family bonding or whatever. 

Felix thought it was ridiculous. 

Felix quickly ate his food and left the dining hall. If he didn't exit quickly, Aunt Emilie would insist he stay for whatever conversation they started. And Felix hated those conversations. 

Felix went back to his room, locking the door behind him. Felix walked over to his computer and sat down. He opened up the research he had been doing for the past few months. 

The history of the Graham de Vanily Twin Rings. 

While Felix now had the rings in his possession, he knew next to nothing about them. They had been in the Graham de Vanily family for as far back as he could find. But, he couldn't find when the rings had first come into the family's possession. 

Felix had gone back 27 generations without finding a single seed of evidence about how the rings entered the family. 

At one point Felix had been convinced they were miraculous, but a quick talk with Aunt Emilie demolished that theory. 

An examination of the rings themselves also gave no clues. The rings were simple silver bands with no indentations or markings. The rings could also slide together to make it look like they were one thicker ring without having any groves or indentations that would allow them to slide together like that. 

His initial guess for the joining together of the rings were magnets, but after doing a few experiments it became obvious there were no magnets inside the rings. 

Basically, despite researching these rings for the past 4 months, Felix knew next to nothing about them. 

Which was frustrating, to say the least. 

Felix started to research the next generation of his family from his list. Luckily, his ancestors were wealthy aristocrats so their lives had been fairly well documentated. 

After looking at a few paintings of his ancestors, he found out the rings were in fact present here as well. 

After a few hours of reading through various documents about the business ventures and daily lives of his fat and rich ancestors, Felix felt his eyes droop from exhaustion. His eyes were also tired from looking at the computer screen all day. 

Felix sat back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head, a yawn escaping from his mouth. His eyes drifted to the clock. 

11:37pm

Everyone else in the mansion was most likely asleep. 

Felix turned off his computer and walked over to his bed. He crawled into his bed and turned out the lights using the remote. 

As soon as his head hit the pillow, he felt his exhaustion hit him in full force. Felix fell asleep within moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing this(despite my other fics being weeks behind schedule, woops). 
> 
> I had this idea a while ago and I finnaly decided to get it written and posted. 
> 
> Btw, Lila is more than welcome in the comments.


	2. The Raven eyes the Fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila Rossi is forced to go back to Françoise Dupont this school year. First day she has a run in with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this instead of working on my other, more popular fics. Because this fic is taking over my brain. 
> 
> Enjoy.

"Mother, please don't make me go back to that school!" Lila begged her mother as they drove towards Françoise Dupont High School. 

"No Lila, you need to learn that lying gets you nowhere in life. You need to deal with the consequences of your actions. You're lucky Mr. Damocles is letting you come back after all you did last year." 

Lila groaned, "I wish he would have expelled me." 

"Well he didn't. If fact, you're lucky the school let you move to the next grade at all, with how bad your grades were. You better thank the principal for letting you attend those summer classes." 

"Why would I do that? Those summer classes were horrible and the teachers were idiots." 

"Don't be so disrespectful young lady. Now, I'm going to be in detect contact will all your teachers and your principal, so if you try anything like you did last year, I will know." 

The car turned a corner and the school came into view. Lila couldn't believe that she had to go back to that school full of brain dead morons. 

Lila got out of the car as soon as her mother pulled up to the curb, slamming the door behind her. Not giving her mother the chance to say anything more. 

Lila noticed many people watching her as she walked up the school steps. Lila didn't even need to look at anybody to know that their stares were either cautious or loathing. Lila ignored the stares and continued on her way to the locker room. 

Lila entered the locker room door to see many of her classmates from last year there as well. Many of them stopped what the were doing to stare at her, most with angry expressions on their face. 

Lila ignored them all, instead looking at the paper that had her locker number on it. 

Lila found her locker, which was right next to Sabrina's, and shoved a couple textbooks inside. Lila closed her locker and tried to leave the locker room. 

But was blocked by Kim. 

"I'm not falling for your tricks this year, Lila." He said in an angry tone. 

"Great," Lila responded, "I don't expect you to be that stupid." 

Lila dodged around the boy before he could respond and walked out of the locker room. 

And ran face first into Marinette. 

Lila's nose slammed directly into the shorter girl's massive forehead and Lila was knocked onto her ass. 

"Ah shit." Lila muttered as she rubbed her nose. 

"Oh, Lila!" Marinette exclaimed, somehow still standing, "Are you alright?" Marinette held her hand out to help Lila up. 

_ Little bitch, _ Lila cursed internally before slapping away Marinette's hand. 

"I'm fine." Lila spat out as she got up off the floor on her own. 

Lila started to walk away but was stopped when Marinette grabbed her wrist, "Lila, are you still angry about last year?" 

Lila pulled her arm free of the other girl's grasp, "Of course I am, you're an idiot if you thought I wouldn't be." 

"Lila, it's a new year, I thought that, maybe we could start over." Her tone sounded sincere, which was the thing that angered Lila the most. 

"You want to  _ start over? _ " Lila replied agrerly, "You want to just  _ start over _ after you publicly outed me as a liar and brought in celebrities and superheroes just to have them say that they never met me." Lila was yelling now and the rest of the school courtyard had gone quiet to watch the scene, "After you did a slideshow presentation in front of the whole school outlining just how much of a liar I was? After you brought my mother in to tell them about my real life?" 

Lila went quiet for a second to catch her breath. 

"Lila I.." Marinette started to say, with a shocked expression

"Don't even try to make excuses!" Lila cut the girl off, "I was just trying to be popular and make some friends! And what happened to me for doing that?" Lila asked the girl. 

"Um, I-" The bark haired girl started. 

"YOU RUINED MY LIFE, MARINETTE!" Lila shouted, cutting off the other girl, "Just because I wanted some attention!" 

Lila stopped yelling to catch her breath. While doing so, she noticed a change on Marinette's face. Her shocked expression left her face and a new angry face took it's place. 

"Oh, you aren't going to make me the bad guy here!" Marinette retorted, "You didn't just 'want some attention' you wanted people to bow to you. I figured out that you were lying so you tried to destroy my life! You tried getting me expelled, you started horrible rumors about me, and you told my friends not to hang out with me anymore."

Marinette walked up to Lila, getting in her face, "You are a horrible, deceitful bully and I outed you for the manipulator that you are." 

Lila had had enough. 

Her anger was boiling hotter than her lava and reason was thrown out the window. 

Lila attacked Marinette. 

**___________________**

  
  


Felix walked up the school steps of Frank's Dunes High School, or whatever it was called, and noticed the large crowd in the school's courtyard. 

"Is that normal?" He asked Adrien, who was walking next to him. 

"No, it's very unusual, actually." Adrien said, also seeming confused.

As Felix got closer he realised what the crowd was. 

There was a fight. 

Felix hadn't seen a fight in school before, since he had always gone to a prestigious private school, so he was mildly interested. 

Felix looked over the heads of the other students, a privilege of being tall, and saw two girls fighting. 

Felix didn't recognise the first girl, but he recognised Marinette. 

Interesting, Adrien's little angle of a girlfriend was in a fight. 

"Oh shit." Felix heard Adrien mutter before he started to push through the crowd, "Excuse me!" Adrien said as he shoved students out of his way. 

Felix watches with interest as Adrien grabbed Marinette and a large boy that Felix didn't recognise grabbed the other girl. 

Felix pushed to the front of the crowd as Adrien whispered something into his girlfriend's ear, which seemed to calm her down. The other girl struggled in the grasp of the large boy, who seemed to be panicking as he held her. The girl slammed her head back into the large boy's jaw, which made him let go of the girl. 

The girl ran at Marinette once more. Felix knew he was fully capable of stopping the charging girl if he pleased. But honestly? 

This was entertaining. 

All of the sudden, a green figure landed in front of Marinette. 

"Shelter!" The figure shouted. Suddenly a green bubble was covering the green man, Marinette and Adrien. 

Oh, a hero. If Felix remembered correctly, which he probably didn't, this one was called Car Lace or something like that. 

Which was a really dumb name. 

He's a turtle, what does that have to do with cars? Or lace? 

Mystery girl stopped in her tracks as the barrier went up. Felix noticed her mumble something under her breath as she banged her fist on the barrier. 

"What is going on here?" A voice boomed across the courtyard. 

Felix turned to see what looked like an owl in a fat suit looking down from the second floor. 

As the fat suited owl walked down the steps to the second floor, Car Lace pet down his barrier. 

"Carapace?" The owl exclaimed, "What are you doing here?" 

Oh, it was Carapace, not Car Lace, that made a lot more sense. 

"Just doing my duty as a hero, sir." The hero answered. 

"I see, so what happened that needed superhero interference?" The owl asked.

"Oh, these two dudettes were having a fight." Carapace pointed to Marinette and the other girl. "I was in the area and figured I'd help break it up."

"Hmm, I see. Thank you for your help Carapace. Lila and Marinette, see me in my office immediately." The owl turned around and walked back up the stairs, followed closely by Marinette and Lila, if he heard her name correctly. 

Felix watches as the superhero did some crazy jumps and flips in order to land on the roof of the school. Then he disappeared.

As the crowd dispersed, Felix walked up to Adrien, who was watching the two girls enter the owl's office with a look of worry. 

"So," Felix said, "who's Lila?" 

Adrien sighed as he took his eyes away from the door, "Last year, Lila Rossi became the most popular person in school by lying about her life. She decided that Marinette needed to be friendless and went about trying to make her friendless. At the end of the year, Marinette exposed Lila's lies in front of the entire school. Lila obviously didn't take it well." 

"Huh." Felix responded. 

Felix knew he had no chance of joining Adrien's friend group after that video from about 6 months ago. So, Felix would have to make his own friends. 

And Felix decided that Lila Rossi would be his first friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my little headcannon that Felix doesn't care enough to remember anything's proper name. Cause I find that funny. 
> 
> Btw, before you say that Mari would never even try to reconcile with Lila. I feel that Mari would at least try, cause Mari is a nice person like that.


	3. The Fox meets The Raven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila and Felix finally meet, but Lila doesn't seem to care that Felix exists. When Lila gets home she is forced to eat dinner with a man she hates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I know I said this wasn't going to be a salt fic, but some salt may have found it's way in here. A small amount not a 100% salt fic but there is salt now. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Lila couldn't believe it. 

It was bullshit, complete and utter bullshit. 

Marinette had gotten off punishment free. 

And Lila had gotten a month of after school detention. 

The only reason she hadn't been suspended was because Mr. Damocles had called Lila's mother to suggest a punishment. And her mother had said that's staying in school longer would be more of a punishment than suspension. 

The principal had claimed that Marinette had only been acting in self defence, despite Lila having bruises and scratches from the fight. 

The principal had sent the two girls off to class, which of course they had together this year as well. Because the universe hated Lila Rossi. 

The two girls arrived in class late. Lila felt the eyes of the class watch her as she turned and walked to the back of the room. 

The class was the same size as Lila's class from last year and most of the seats were taken up. The only available seats were in the back two rows. One next to that blue haired weather chick from tv, and the other next to a blond guy who was way too overdressed for school. 

Lila chose to sit next to the blond guy, because he seemed smarter and easy to cheat off of. 

Marinette of course went to the front and sat next to Adrien and her other friends. 

Lila surveyed the class. 

In the first row sat Adrien next to Marinette and Alix next to Sabrina. Nino sat next to Kim in the second row, as well as Juleka next to Rose. 

Max was sitting in front of Lila, along with Ivan, and across the aisle from them sat Nathaniel and his boyfriend. 

Most of the class was the same as last year, which was annoying. She wouldn't be able to gain any friends in this class. 

As Lila was about to lose herself in her thoughts when she noticed that the boy next to her was talking. 

"So as I traversed the Amazon Rainforest a group of walking snowmen jumped down from the trees and attacked me." He was saying. 

"Wait what?" Lila responded. 

"Oh good you're finally paying attention," The blond boy said with a smirk, "I've been spewing bullshit from my mouth for the last 5 minutes and you didn't even notice." 

"Maybe because I don't care about what you're saying." Lila snapped back. 

Lila felt anger rise in her as an amused smile appeared on the blond boy's face, "Anyways, now that I have your attention. My name is Felix Graham de Vanily, pleasure to make your acquaintance." 

Felix extended his hand, obviously expecting a handshake. Lila ignored his outstretched hand, "I don't care who you are, leave me alone." 

Lila turned away from the boy, instead opting to retrieve her book from her bag. 

It was a fantasy novel and Lila had put a black cloth cover on the book so she could read it in peace without anybody recognising the book. Books where one of the few pleasures she had left after Marinette had ruined everything else about her life. 

Lila allowed herself to forget about her horrible life as she emerged herself in her book. 

**____________________**

Felix hadn't exactly gotten a warm reception when he entered the room. 

In fact the reception had been quite chilly. 

He kept noticing various members of the class looking back at him with distrust, the stares had only intensified after he had begun talking to Lila. Though a few had looked amused at Lila's confused reaction. 

Lila was obviously trying to make herself as unapproachable as possible with her constantly angry expression and her cloth coverings on all her belongings. 

Lila Rossi wouldn't be an easy person to befriend. 

But Felix Graham de Vanily enjoyed a good challenge. 

Felix pulled out his phone and pretended to scroll through it. Through the corner of his eye he focused on the book Lila was reading. There was a black cloth covering on the book which made the cover of the book hard to identify. 

Luckily, Felix had good eyes. 

He recognised the book as a popular American fantasy novel called  _ The Exiled Queen _ . Felix himself only recognised it because he had read the series it was a part of a few years ago while on a trip to America. 

Felix's mind started to drift back to that trip to America. His father had a business meeting in New York and had decided to bring Felix along. 

It had been a mostly boring trip, the aforementioned book series had kept him entertained through the trip. 

Once father had finished his meetings, he had taken Felix on a tour of the city. 

One of Felix's favorite memories had been exploring the American museums with his father. Felix had been fascinated with history at the time, any history he could find. His father had promised to bring Felix to America's capital one day to explore the museums there. 

It had never happened. 

Felix shook the thoughts of his father out of his head. It didn't matter anymore, he was gone. 

Felix looked at his watch to check the time, it was nearly time to change classes. 

Felix gathered his things as the bell rang and he once again was searching the school for another classroom. 

**___________________**

  
  


The rest of Lila's day passed uneventfully. None of the teachers gave any real work, only a few 'get to know you' activities or whatever. 

Lila managed to finish the book she had been reading and she had found the next book in the series in the library, where she had spent her lunch. 

Detentions didn't actually start until next week so Lila had walked home on her own, not bothering to wait for her mother to pick her up. 

Lila made her way into her room immediately after she got home, locking the door behind her. 

Lila dropped her bag on the floor and sat on her bed. It had been a horrible day and Lila was sore from the fight with Marinette that morning, also the seats at that school were not comfortable. 

Lila had been about to crawl into her bed and go to sleep when something sitting on her desk had caught her eye. 

Lila stood up and walked over to the desk, picking up the small box that Mayura had given her months ago. 

Lila had never managed to open it, no matter how hard she tried. She had tried knives, a hammer, and she had even shot it once but the bullet had ricocheted off and nearly hit Lila. 

Lila had even tried a chainsaw, don't ask where she got it, and it hasn't left a scratch. 

Lila had eventually stopped trying. Mayura had said the box would open when the time was right, which seemed like some bullshit but it was most likely magic so whatever. 

Lila tossed the box into one of her drawers and went back to sitting on her bed. 

Lila grabbed her book out of her bag and got into a comfortable reading position. 

About an hour later, Lila heard her mother come into the house. 

Although, going by the male voice accompanying her, she had brought her boyfriend home. 

Lila Rossi did not like her mom's new boyfriend in the slightest. He was a despicable human being and he puts on a gentlemanly act while Lila's mom was around. 

He was some rich arms dealer and he stank of liquor and cigarettes. 

Also he had a son who he borderline neglected and obviously didn't feed enough. 

Lila suddenly heard a knock on her door. 

"Lila, it's time to eat." Her mother called from the other side. 

"Coming." Lila answers simply as she closed her book.

Lila opened the door to see her mother standing there with a cross expression, "We will talk about school later," her mother said, "But right now Roy is over with his son for dinner." 

"Oh joy." Lila said, rolling her eyes. 

Her mother sighed and turned to walk back to the dinning room, Lila following close behind. 

Roy and Nathaniel Kurtzberg where already sitting at the table when Lila arrived. 

Lila hated these stupid dinners. Lila and her mother never ate dinner together unless Roy was here.

Lila was always sat next to Nathaniel, which was always awkward. 

Lila ate her dinner quickly and escaped back to her room, leaving the door cracked open so she could hear their conversation. 

"I don't understand why she always leave like that," Roy was saying, "Its almost as if she doesn't like me." 

Lila maybe would have liked the man if he wasn't dating her mother and insisted Lila calling him dad, which Lila refused to do. He would have been easy to manipulate if her mother wasn't keeping such a close eye on her. 

"Lila is a troubled girl." Her mother replied, "She is convinced the only way she can make friends is by lying. It's quite a shame." 

Lila felt the truth of that statement like a wrecking ball to the chest. It wasn't as if she had any interesting qualities or hobbies that would gain her any friends. Lying was the only way people would find her interesting. 

Lila shut the door to block out their conversation. Lila grabbed a bottle of melatonin from her desk and took a few of the tablets. 

Lila climbed back into bed and let the vitamins put her to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know, melatonin is a safe vitamin that helps you sleep. Lila is not doing drugs.
> 
> Ok so Nathaniel isn't really going to be a part of the story he's only there because I need to use his father. 
> 
> What will his father be used for? Oh you'll see In due time. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the small amount of Felix backstory and Lila's new hobby. 
> 
> In case you where wondering The Exiled Queen is part of The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima. It's a wonderful series and I highly recommend it.


	4. The Raven Pesters The Fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix tries talking to Lila, and so does Marinette. Both have similar results.

Felix poured himself a large cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Aunt Emilie had prepared some pancakes for breakfast. It was a bland meal but it had tasted pretty good. 

Felix hadn't slept last night, he had been busy trying to find a portrait of one of his ancestors. Apparently being executed for treason makes it so you don't have many portraits. 

Felix sipped in his coffee as Adrien walked into the room, still wearing his night clothes. 

"Hey Felix." Adrien said, already sounding wide awake. Felix hated morning people. 

"Good morning Adrien." Felix replied to sound polite. 

"Felix, about yesterday." Adrien did as he grabbed some pancakes, "I noticed you were talking with Lila during class." 

Felix raised an eyebrow at his cousin. It's not like it was any of his business who Felix talked to.

"And? Your point being?" Felix countered.

"I don't think you should talk with her." 

"And why not?" 

"I told you what she did last year, she's not the kind of person you want to hang out with." Adrien obviously thought he was being helpful or something, looking after his cousin. He wasn't. He was being an ass. "Associating with Lila won't help you make friends." 

"Ya it will." Felix replied.

Adrien raised an eyebrow, "How exactly?" 

"It will make me friends with Lila." 

Adrien sighed, "I'm just trying to help you Felix."

Felix finished off his coffee and stood up, "Well, maybe I don't need your help." 

Felix exited the room before Adrien could answer. Felix went to his room and grabbed his school bag. Felix honestly didn't feel like waiting for Adrien to get ready, so he decided to walk to the school building. 

The building was only a few blocks away so it wasn't that far of a walk, it would be fine. 

**___________________**

  
  


Felix made it to the school about 20 minutes later. He had gotten a little lost but he still managed to arrive before Adrien. Felix made his way to his locker so that he could put his books inside.

However, Felix never made it to his locker. Instead, a large boy in a red jacket threw his arm over Felix's shoulder. 

"Adrien, what's with the suit man?" The boy asked with a laugh, "You look ridiculous."

"I'm not-" 

"Hey Max," The boy shouted, cutting off Felix's reply, "come check out Adrien's suit." 

A smaller, darker skinned boy in a green shirt walked over in response. He looked like the nerdy type. Felix assumed he was Max.

"Kim, that isn't-" 

"Dude, did you cut your hair yesterday?" The large boy, apparently named Kim, cut off the other boy to address another question to Felix, "I swore you had it longer." 

Felix made eye contact with the nerd kid, sending a silent plea for help.

In response, he smirked and pushed his glasses up. 

"I believe you're correct Kim," Max said, "His hair is approximately 70% shorter than it was yesterday." 

Felix hated this school. 

"Kim what are you doing?" A short, pink haired, pink looking girl appeared next to Max. 

"Alix, look at Adrien, he looks ridiculous!" 

The girl's eyes widened for a second before her face gained the appearance of a person trying not to laugh. 

"I wonder what he's planning to ask Marinette today?" The girl, Alix apparently, asked with what could only be described as a shit-eating grin. 

The boy holding Felix gasped, "Adrien, don't you think it's a little early in your lives?" 

This guy obviously wasn't the smartest and Felix was already sick of him. 

"Listen, I'm not-"

"What are you guys doing?" A sudden voice asked, again cutting off Felix's attempt at escape. 

Marinette had appeared next to the punk girl. Felix desperately hoped she would help him. 

"Hey Marinette, look at Adrien. He's all dressed up for some reason." Kim pointed out to Marinette. 

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "Kim, that's not-" 

"I think he dressed up to ask you a question." Kim said as he wiggled his eyebrows. 

Marinette sighed, "God I hope not." 

Felix heard Kim suck in a breath, "Dude," Kim whispered into Felix's ear, "I think she's mad at you." 

Felix sighed, "Probably because  _ I'm _ not her boyfriend." 

The boy gasped, "You guys broke up? What happened?" 

"Kim, what are you doing to my cousin?" A sudden voice asked.

Adrien had appeared, finally.

The boy holding Felix froze as Adrien appeared, almost as if his brain wasn't understanding what was happening. 

"How-" the boy muttered, obviously confused. 

Felix finally pushed the large boy off of him, "As I have been trying to tell you, I am not Adrien." Felix started to smooth out his vest which had been wrinkled, "I am Felix Graham de Vanily, and I do not appreciate strangers randomly grabbing me." 

"Um, sorry." Kim apologised, still seeming a bit confused. 

Felix glares at the boy for a second longer before turning on his heel and making his way into the locker room. He quickly put his books away and made his way to tbe classroom. 

Class would be starting soon, but there were still barely any people in the room. A couple boys, one with red hair and the other with black, sat close together in the third row, looking at a notebook. The Lila girl was also in her seat, reading a book with a black book cover. 

Felix made his way to his seat next to Lila. 

"Good morning." Felix said to the girl. 

She gave no response. 

"So, what are you reading?" Felix continued. 

"Don't talk to me." Lila responded, turning a page in her book. 

"Han dies at the end." Felix lied. Han was one of the main characters of the series she was reading. 

"What?!" Lila exclaimed, whipping her head to face Felix. 

Felix smirked, "I lied, but now that I have your attention. How was your summer?" 

Lila's face twisted in anger for a second before calming down with a deep breath, "Why do you care?" She asked curtly. 

"I'm trying to make friends." Felix responded. 

Lila raised her eyebrows, "And you decided I would be a good candidate?" 

"Of course." 

"Bullshit." Lila sneared, "You were probably payed to say that." 

Felix frowned, this would be harder than he thought. 

"I have enough money, what I need is a friend." 

"If you aren't doing this for money, then you're probably just trying to get in my pants. Don't talk to me." 

Felix frowned as Lila turned back to her book, an angry look still on her face. This was going to be a challenge. 

Felix was looking forward to it. 

**____________________**

  
  


Lila had managed to avoid Marinette up until lunch. 

Lila had finished her lunch quickly and left the cafeteria, instead moving to the courtyard for a quiet space to read. 

Lila hadn't noticed Marinette approach until she was right in front of her. 

"What do you want?" Lila asked without looking up from her book. Lila could already feel the anger rising and she wasn't sure she would be able to control her anger if she looked at the girl. 

"I just want to talk." The girl responded. 

"About what? How we should put our differences aside and become friends? Because that's never happening after what you did." 

"Lila, I just don't think that this constant hatred between us is okay. We may never be friends but we need to learn how to be around each other without fighting." 

"I'm sorry Marinette, but that will never happen after what you did." Lila shut her book and stood up. "After you ruined my life, after you broadcasted my lies to all of Paris. I'm sure you don't know how many hate emails I got, how many doors were closed to me, and how badly you screwed me over." Lila moved closer to Marinette, getting in the girl's face. "I was in line to go to a modeling school, my dream school. But the day you exposed me I received an email saying I would never be accepted into their school." Lila felt tears start to flow down her face, " I had people that cared about me! Now I have nobody." Marinette was wide eyed now, staring at Lila. 

"Lila I-" 

"I don't want your apologies, I want my life back. You have everything going for you, a perfect family, friends, and golden opportunities. I never had any of that." Lila grabbed Marinette's collar, "You took everything I had Marinette, and gave me no change to take it back." 

Lila let go of Marinette, pushing her away, "I hate you Marinette, and that will never change." 

"Lila-" 

"Go away Marinette, don't talk to me ever again." Lila sat back down on the bench, picking her book back up. 

Lila heard Marinette's footsteps go up the stairs and disappear behind a door.

Lila opened her book again. But instead of reading, she just let the book sit there. A facade while Lila let the tears fall down her face. 

**____________________**

  
  


Lila decided to stop by the bookstore on the way home. It was one of the few places Lila went nowadays. 

Lila didn't have any money, but there was a section of the store where you could sit in a comfortable chair or beanbag and read. The owner allowed people to bring in their own books to read as long as they weren't loud. 

The area was mostly empty except for the store owner who was reading a book of one of the beanbags. The store owner was a large man, over 6 feet for sure, had dirty-blond hair and seemed young, abkut 25 if Lila had to guess. Lila had only talked with the man once when she had first entered the store and never planned to. 

Lila sat in one of the comfortable arm chairs and pulled out her book. Lila let herself fade into the fantasy world of the book. 

Lila stayed there for hours, just reading her book and allowing herself to forget her screwed up life. Sometimes Lila felt more at home in this store than at her own house. 

Checking her watch, Lila realised it was almost 8pm already. Lila put her book back in her bag and stood up from the chair, stretching as she did so. 

The store owner had moved off the beanbag and was now looking through the shelves with a clipboard. Most likely taking stock. Lila started to make her way out of the store. 

"Hey, you. Hold on." The store owner called out. 

Lila looked around to see who he was talking to, but there was nobody else in the shop. 

Was he talking to her?

"I notice you come here a lot, you interested in a job?" The man asked. 

Lila had never thought about getting a job, she had always gotten all the money she needed from her mother. But now her mother had cut her off, refusing to even buy a new phone since Lila's was shattered. 

"I guess a job would be nice." Lila replied, "But you should just put out a hiring sign, you would probably get a lot better workers than me." 

"No, I don't want just anybody to work at my store, I want people who love books. And I think you fit that description." The man said, writing something on his clipboard. 

Lila was baffled, she had only ever talked to this man once and he already trusted her to work at his store. 

Lila wasn't sure what to think. 

"So, do you want to work here?" He asked, walking towards Lila. 

"Um, sure." Lila agreed, still a bit shocked. 

"Awesome, I'll expect you to be here tomorrow where we can discuss the details." The man walked past Lila, moving behind the service counter, "Have a good day." 

Lila exited the shop, starting her walk back home. 

What had just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lila is a prickly cactus girl. 
> 
> Lila got a job, yay. 
> 
> More plot in this chapter but not alot.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, I'll try for a shorter wait next time.


	5. The Fox's dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila had a less than pleasant dream which leads her to be at the bookstore early in the morning.   
> Talking with the owner over coffee, Lila learned that a certain rich blond boy was also hired there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while. Schools a bitch. 
> 
> Feels good to be back though and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

_ Lila sat alone in the kindergarten classroom, full of other children her age. She sat alone, as usual. She didn't have any friends.  _

_ Lila could never seem to talk to the other kids, whenever she tried she only ended up confused about the strange shows and games they talked about and ended up running away.  _

_ Lila colored a picture of a fox at the back table of the classroom as she wondered why she had no friends. She didn't like being alone, being alone made her feel sad and weird.  _

_ All of a sudden, a voice cut into her thoughts.  _

_ "Are you okay?" The voice said.  _

_ Lila looked up in confusion. It was a brown haired little girl in her class. _

_ "Why are you asking?" Lila responded.  _

_ The girl blinked, "You're crying."  _

_ Lila blinked a couple times before raising her hand up to touch her cheeks, sure enough they were wet.  _

_ Lila didn't know how to answer. She couldn't say she was lonely, they would think she's a weirdo. _

_ What should she say? _

Lie.

_ The idea entered her mind so loudly she visibly fliched.  _

_ "Are you okay?" The other girl asked again.  _

_ "I'm fine, my papà went to America to fight bad guys and I miss him." Lila lied.  _

_ "Really?" The girl asked, eyes wide, "What's he like?" _

_ "He's really brave and kind, he saves people from bad guys everyday," Lila said, lying some more, "but nobody knows who he is because he does it in secret."  _

_ "Really?" The girl seemed to believe Lila.  _

_ "Ya he saves a thousand people everyday!"  _

_ Lila closed her eyes and started to wipe away her tears. Maybe she could have friends after all! All she needed to do was... _

_ "Stop lying." the girl said, her voice sounding different now.  _

_ Lila opened her eyes, "What do you m-" Lila cut herself off as she noticed the classroom had vanished and the little girl was gone, in her place was…  _

_ Marinette Dupain-Cheng. _

_ Marinette reached over the small desk that remained and grabbed Lila by the shoulders, "STOP LYING LILA!" Marinette shouted at Lila.  _

_ Lila tried to get free of Marinette's grasp but only succeeded in tipping her chair over.  _

_ "Why do you lie? Lying is bad. Lying is evil." Marinette said as she pushed Lila to the ground and sat on top of her.  _

_ The tears increased on Lila's face as she desperately tried to get away from the blue haired girl's iron grip. _

_ "You need punishment!" Marinette said as she raised one of her hands in the air.  _

_ Lila closed her eyes, expecting a hit.  _

_ Which never came.  _

_ Lila cracked her eyes open to see a different scene before her.  _

_ Lila was sitting opposite from her mother in their living room, a low glass table between them.  _

_ "I can't believe you Lila." Her mother was saying, "You lied to your classmates, your teachers, the principal, and even about having a boyfriend!" Mother listed in a disappointed tone,"Honestly I don't know what to do with you."  _

_ "Mom I-" _

_ "Don't even try to make up excuses! You evil child!" Mother shouted as she stood up from her seat, "It would have been better if you were never born!" _

_ Lila felt tears stream down her cheeks, "Mom please don't say that!" _

_ "Why shouldn't I say it? It's true! If it wasn't for you Robert wouldn't have left me!" As she screamed, Lila's mother kicked the glass table between them, causing it to shatter.  _

_ "That's not true!" Lila cried.  _

_ "Maybe it would be better if you died." Lila watched as her mother picked up a large glass shard from the table and raised it above her head.  _

_ Lila threw her arms up to block her mother's attack.  _

_ But again, no attack came.  _

_ Lila slowly opened her eyes to find the scene had changed once again. She was now in her bedroom. She was laying on her back with her legs hanging off the edge.  _

_ And there was somebody standing over her.  _

_ Roy stood over Lila, a bottle of alcohol in his hand and a grin on his face that made Lila's skin crawl.  _

_ "You've got such a nice body, just like your mom's." Roy said with slurred speech, "Such a waste to leave it unused." _

_ A jolt of fear shot through Lila as Roy dropped the wine bottle and grabbed Lila's thigh instead, his grin widening.  _

_ "Y-you can't!" Lila forced out, managing only to stutter a little, "I'm a minor, I'll have you arrested!" _

_ "I can die whatever I want!" Roy said with a laugh, "Nobody would believe a little liar like you anyways." _

_ Tears ran down Lila's face. She tried to push her legs together, only to have them forced apart by Roy.  _

_ "Don't be shy, I'll treat you real nice." _

_ Lila's protests lodged in her throat as Roy grabbed her stomach, causing another jolt of fear to run and revulsion to run through her.  _

_ Lila was crying as Roy reached towards her chest. Her arms were numb and she felt helpless.  _

_ "No," Lila cried, "NOOOOOO!!!"  _

Lila woke up with a jolt. She felt her body shake as she tried to sit up. Her sheets were drenched in sweat and her pillow was the same. 

Lila leaned her back against the wall.  _ It was just a dream. _ Lila told herself,  _ Nothing more, just a dream. _

It wasn't the first time she had that dream, and most likely wouldn't be the last. They had started soon after Marinette had ruined her life and happened about once a week. This once seemed especially bad though.

The man in the dream changed often, not always Roy. Sometimes it was Adrien, the kids from her class, Jagged Stone, and even Gabriel Agreste once. Marinette and her mother were constant though. 

By the time Lila had calmed down enough to think properly, it was an hour before she usually got up. 

Lila sighed and forced herself off the bed and onto her still shaky legs, and proceeded to get ready for the day. She left the house 30 minutes later, making sure to toss the lunch her mother left out for her in the garbage. 

Lila hadn't told her mother, or anybody for that matter, about the dreams. It would only cause more problems and Lila had enough of those. 

Lila made her way to the bookstore. She often did this when she had the dream. The bookstore was more relaxing than her house and she could relax there since she was free from her mother's disappointed stare. 

Lila sat down in a comfortable chair, closed her eyes, and breathed in 5he scent of the store. It always had a lemon scent, along with the smell of paper and books. 

Lila loved this place. 

Oh ya, wasn't she working here starting today?

"You're here early today." A voice called out to her. 

Lila opened her eyes to see David, the store manager, standing over her with 2 cups of coffee in his hands. 

"I woke up early today." Lila responded. 

"Obviously." David said as he placed a coffee cup on a small table within Lila's reach, "Nightmare?" 

Lila picked up the coffee and brought it to her lips, it was sweetened quite a bit but it was drinkable. "Where did you get that idea?"

"You didn't rest well, I can see it in your eyes." The few times Lila had talked to David, he seemed to know exactly what was on her mind. 

"So," David continued after Lila stayed silent, "What are you afraid of?"

"I would rather not talk about it." 

"Fair enough." David sat in the chair opposite from Lila and began to drink his coffee. 

"Oh by the way," David suddenly said after a few minutes of silence, "I hired another kid after you left yesterday." 

Lila raised an eyebrow in response. 

"He didn't seem like the type who needed to work for money, so I'm sure he had another reason for applying. Most likely trying to impress a girl."

"What did he look like?" Lila asked. 

David thought for a second, "Blond, well dressed, green eyes, smug attitude."

Lila sighed, it was that Felix kid. Was he that desperate to get some? If he wanted it that badly Jenny from the year above theirs would do it for 50 euros. Or was he one of those guys who goes after virgins? Disgusting.

"So, why did you higher him?" 

David shrugged, "Had a feeling something interesting would happen if I did." 

_ Weirdo _ , Lila thought as she set down her empty coffee cup, "Thanks for the coffee, but I have to get to school."

"Ok, see you this afternoon." David said as Lila stood up, "That blond kid will also be here." 

Lila gave no response as she grabbed her bag and walked out the door. 

That Felix guy better not ruin this book store for her. 

**________________________**

Felix didn't mean to apply to the bookstore. The owner just kind of  _ hired him. _

Felix had entered the store because he wondered why Lila seemed to go there so often. 

Felix wasn't being a stalker, he just had nothing else to do and he didn't really want to go home. 

If Liar McGrumpypants went there often it might be a place Felix would enjoy as well. 

Or at least that's what he thought before he got ambushed by a grown man in an anime hoodie asking if he wanted to work there. Felix had said yes in pure confusion, but by the time Felix realised what was happening the man had already given him a schedule and a work shirt. 

Felix could just not go, but his pride as a Graham de Vanily wouldn't let him do that. 

So, Felix had a job now. 

Felix walked up the steps of French Dicks High School as he thought about his new job. A bookstore? What would he even do? Whenever he helped out with his Parent's company he always did higher up work, Felix wasn't exactly sure what the lower workers even did. 

Actually, Felix wasn't sure the Graham de Vanily company had workers, they went full robotic 2 years ago. 

Ok then, what do the robots do?

Felix's train of thought was broken when he was pulled sideways into an empty classroom. 

Felix heard the door shut behind him. 

"What the hell are you doing?" A female voice asked. 

Felix turned to the voice to see Lila Bossi glaring at him. 

"I was walking." Felix responded. 

"That's not what I  _ meant! _ " 

"I was contemplating the reason and purpose of robots in the Graham De Vanily Company." 

"I'm talking about the bookstore dumbass!" 

Lila looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel and it was hilarious. Felix wanted to laugh but held it back. 

"Oh, I was looking for someone." 

"Who?"

"This bitch named Lila." 

"You little-" Lila's face was red with anger a this point. 

"Pff." Felix felt a small laugh escape his lips." 

"You think this is funny?" Lila asked angrily. 

"Hilarious."

"It's assholes like you that I hate the most." Lila said, poking him in the chest, "Stay away from the bookstore or else I'll-" 

Felix watched Lila's face morph from anger to realization as she realized. 

She can't do anything. 

Felix grinned. She was powerless. 

Felix always chose powerless people to hang around, hanging around people with power was tiring and bothersome. The weak were more fun, they had less worries, had more fun, and had no ulterior motives about learning family secrets and using them to execute his father. 

For example…

Most powerless people didn't take much to befriend, a kind word here, a smile there, the occasional promise to restore a family business. Simple things. 

Lila Rossi was different though. 

She wanted none of those things. 

She was an anomaly. Felix had no idea what she wanted. 

She was like a… oh what's a good comparison for this?

_ A Tootsie Pop! _ Felix thought,  _ A perfect analogy _

She was like a Tootsie Pop, with a mystery flavor.

How many licks does it take to get to the center? 

Wait, that sounds creepy…

Also Tootsie Pops only have one flavor, maybe it is a bad analogy.

Felix was snapped back to reality as Lila started poking his cheek

"Hello?" Lila called out, "Is your brain working properly?" Felix had apparently become lost in thought. 

"Oh sorry," Felix said, "I forgot about you." 

Lila's face contorted in rage once more, "You can't just  _ forget  _ you're having a conversation!"

"Can and did." Felix responded, looking at his watch, "Who are you again?" 

Lila's face somehow turned redder as she sputtered, "You- How- I'm- What-"

Felix was just fucking with her at this point. 

Fucking with her like this probably wouldn't help get to the center of the Tootsie Pop, or maybe it was a Jawbreaker now, any sooner, but god damn it's funny. 

"Ok, I'm going to my locker now." Felix said, opening the door, "Its been a lovely chat though, see you tomorrow."

Felix left the angry Lila alone and made his way to his locker, chuckling the entire way. 

That was the most fun he had in a long time.

_____________________

  
  


Lila kept her anger towards Felix until lunchtime. 

Where it was replaced with some fresh anger against the girl who ruined her life! 

Yayyyyyy!

Marinette had, once again, tried to talk to Lila during lunch. 

Instead of exploding, this time Lila simply ignored her, instead focusing on her book. Amazing what sitting next to an annoying blond can do to your ignoring abilities. 

As soon as class ended, Lila made a beeline out of the school and to the bookstore. 

"Oh, good, you're here." David said as she entered, "Get changed into this and head to the register." David shoved a yellow and green work shirt into her hands and pointed to the employees only door. 

Lila blinked a few times before walking to the door. Inside she found it was a small corridor lined with boxes, most likely filled with books, with a staircase at the end. 

"Go up the stairs and get changed in the bathroom or something." David called out to her. 

Lila walked up the stairs to find a surprisingly clean apartment. Lila opened a few doors in her search for the bathroom. There was a room filled with cardboard boxes, most likely acting as a storage room for the shop, a normal looking bedroom with a mural of a bright sunset lit sky spanning all 4 walls, and a room with  _ a lot _ of anime posters. After finding the bathroom, Lila took a look at herself in a mirror. 

She had dark bags under her eyes and her t-shirt was wrinkled. She stopped caring about fashion after Marinette had ruined her and mostly wore whatever t-shirt and jeans were clean. 

She had fallen pretty far hadn't she?

Lila removed her wrinkled XY t-shirt and put on the yellow and green work shirt of the bookstore. She put her shirt in her bag and left the bathroom. 

Felix was standing in the living room of the apartment. 

Lila gritted her teeth as she walked past him and down the stairs. She had hoped he would just not show up, but there he was. In all his assholey glory. 

Lila went downstairs and found David waiting for her at the service counter.

“Good, you’re changed,” He said, “Let me explain your job. You will work the register, as well as helping people find whatever books they’re looking for. If you don’t know where a book is from memory, you can use the computer next to the register to look up where it is.” David gestured to a computer monitor on the service counter.

_ Seems fairly simple.  _ Lila thought. Lila waited for the man to continue speaking. 

David blinked in response to her stare, “That’s pretty much it. Other than restocking shelves once a week and closing up, that’s all you’ll really be doing.”

Lila blinked, this job would be easier than she thought.    
Lila heard some footsteps behind her, “So what will I be doing Boss?” Felix asked.

Lila turned around to see Felix in jeans and a work shirt, something Lila never expected to see from the rich boy. He had ruffled his hair and now wore a pair of silver glasses. Lila almost didn’t recognise him. 

“Felix, there you are, come over here.” David gestured for Felic to join him behind the service counter. Felix obliged as David bent down to grab something on one of the lower shelves of the counter. David came up holding several large stacks of paper, he handed one to Felix, “This is the sales record for the past 3 months. And this,” David placed another stack in the blond boy’s hands, “Is my orders from the past 3 moths. And this,” Another stack,” Is the list of books in my store from 3 months ago. I need you to go through the store and make a list of all books currently in stock, including the ones in boxes upstairs and in the staff corridor, and make sure all 4 lists match up with each other. Make a list of any books that disappeared without a sale record or any books that are low or out of stock, and then give that list to me so I can sort those things out.”

Lila raised an eyebrow. David seemed to be giving Felix a lot more work than her, not that she was complaining because that sounded like a pain.

Lila saw Felix’s eyebrow also raise, “Shouldn’t you be doing checks like these every month?” 

David shrugged, “I forgot.”

Felix sighed, “I’ll have it done within the week.”

  
“Perfect. Now, I’m going upstairs to take a bath, you two have fun.” David went upstairs, leaving the 2 new employees alone in the store. 

Lila sighed, that man trusted them way too much. If Lila wanted she could empty the cash register and run. 

She wouldn’t though, Lila liked this place. 

Lila sat down behind the service counter, pulling her book out of her bag. She didn’t have any work to do when no customers were in the store and reading a book seemed like a good thing for a bookstore employee to do. So that's exactly what she did. 

**_________________________________________________**

  
  


Felix used the office space behind the service counter to work. It was a small room with a large one way mirror that allowed him to see the entirety of the shop, excluding the service counter. Felix quickly realised he needed a list of the current stock in order to actually begin, so that’s what he started with.    
Felix found a clipboard, paper, and a pen before exiting the office. The first thing he saw was Lila reading a book, feet up on the service counter. 

_ Does this girl have zero work ethic? _ Felix wondered. His father had always taught him to optimise all his work time. If you truly had nothing to do, then find something productive to do. Instead of reading a book she should be cleaning the store, or helping him take stock. 

Felix sighed as he walked past her, it wasn’t his problem. 

Felix began his work in the non-fiction section. Felix wrote small to save paper and tried to go as fast as he could, but not too fast as to make mistakes. Occasionally he would find a book that wasn’t put in the right spot and he would have to change his numbers for books he had already passed. It was time consuming and a pain. 

By the time the store closed up, Felix had just finished the non-fiction section. It had taken a while and Felix still had the fiction, guide books, and the kids sections to finish. 

Felix took the list to the office and set it down. 

Only to have Lila immediately pick it up.

“What are you doing?” Felix asked as Lila began to flip through the list. 

“As I thought.” Lila muttered as she tossed the list in the trash bin. 

“What the hell?” Felix exclaimed. 

“You only wrote down the titles of the books, not their index number, location in the store, or even the author's name. You can’t tell exactly which book it is through the title alone since many books have similar or even the exact same title.” 

Felix blinked, he hadn’t thought of that. If Lila hadn’t caught that he would have had problems when he compared his list with David’s lists. 

“Oh, Thanks I guess.” Felix said reluctantly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Your welcome.” Lila responded with a smug smile. 

_ Grrrrrrrr. _

Felix blinked. What was that noise just now? 

Felix looked down at Lila to see a slight blush on her cheeks. Oh, it was her stomach, made sense since neither of them had dinner. 

“I’ll buy you some pastries at the Drug-and-Lang Bakery across the street as thanks.” Felix offered. 

Lila blinked, she looked confused for some reason, “Do you mean the  _ Dupain-Cheng  _ Bakery?”

Felix shrugged, “Whatever it's called.”

Lila barked out a laugh, “Ok weirdo, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Felix ignored the weirdo comment and waited as Lila locked up the store. 

Felix had a smug smile as he walked with Lila over to the bakery.

“What’s that grin for?” Lila asked.

“I finally got you to talk to me.” 

Lila blinked before putting up a guarded look, “I only did it because we’re coworkers, don’t think it makes us friends or anything.” 

Felix’s smile didn’t falter, progress was progress, whatever reason it was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress? Plot? Wow!
> 
> I'll try to get the next chapter out within the next few weeks at most(hopefully).
> 
> As a side note. This fic and Reject Miraculous are not in the same world. While David and the bookstore are in both fics, they are different Davids if that makes any sense. I'm just too lazy to make more OCs.


End file.
